


Mountains

by BlondefromMars



Category: 30 Seconds to Mars
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-01 18:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12710772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlondefromMars/pseuds/BlondefromMars
Summary: Emma gets invited to a resort in the mountains, a chance of a lifetime.





	1. The Invitation

I had just picked up my mail from the slot in the foyer of my apartment building. Bill, Bill, Junk, Invitation? What the hell? I was flipping through each of the envelopes when I found a heavy envelope. On the back, “You are invited…” etched into the heavy, expensive parchment. I entered my apartment, my brow still furrowed. Who the hell would invite me to anything? I was running through all the friends I had. It was November 1st and people were already talking about going home for the holidays. I used to get excited for the holidays. Nowadays, that was not the case. I was alone. My family didn’t want me around. I had made the decision to move to a different state and I was practically banished. It wasn’t like I lived across the country, oh no I still lived on the same coast. Roughly a 17-hour drive away. Or a flight was just under 3 hours. Did I ever get an invitation to go home for the holidays? Nope. What I did get was a Skype call, and everyone telling me that they missed me. 

On the flipside, I was the only Vegan in my family. If I didn’t go home for the holidays I didn’t inconvenience my mother or my sister with food prep. I simply picked up the makings for something that I normally wouldn’t eat, most of the time it was pasta, a nice bottle of wine, and a 2-person chocolate fudge cake. Which took me forever to eat. Most of the time it would go bad and I would throw it away. I didn’t have any pets, and most of my friends, well they had their own families. 

I made my way further into my small one bedroom apartment. It was the perfect size, with an open floor plan. I even had an island and breakfast bar. I threw the 2 bills onto my desk, I had already paid them, the junk I tossed into the recycle bin, and then I studied the last. Why the hell am I so nervous it’s just a fucking envelope. Open the damn thing and get it over with. I grabbed my tea, that I had left to steep as I retrieved the mail, and sipped. My phone started buzzing across the counter, signaling someone was calling. 

“Hello.” I said.

“Did you get it?”

“Hello, Sam. Get what?” I knew his voice. He was the 1st friend I had made when I moved here. He even let me crash on his daybed when my apartment complex burned to the ground. I had met him at a hiring fair. When I moved from Washington State, I had a job lined up, I was waiting for the flooring in my apartment to be redone, and my parents were meeting me down here. I was in an Airbnb and I was so excited to be in sunny California. Little did I know that the job that I had accepted came with a few job descriptions that I hadn’t signed on for. The main one being having to sleep and pleasure my MARRIED boss. I had been employed for less than 3 hours when I got my first proposition from that slim ball. Needless to say, his wife caught him, and that was the biggest blowup I had ever witnessed in my life. After that marital spat, I found myself outside a giant job fair. People were in serious need of able bodied workers. I was walking around picking up applications and business cards when I was practically run over by a skinny brunette man. He didn’t even flinch. We were fast friends. It also helped that he was wearing a Thirty Seconds to Mars shirt; and my Mars tattoos on my arms were showing.

“Don’t play that card, I know you. You are probably staring at it, with such force it will burst into flames any minute.”  
“Sorry. I dazed out for a minute. What are you haranguing me about?” I shook my head, with my eyes closed.

“Oh. So, you are telling me you haven’t received an envelope made out of very expensive paper with the saying, ‘You are invited…’ on the back? Cause seriously, if you haven’t I have a different phone call to make.” Sam said.

“Oh yeah, I am staring at. Did you send it? What the hell is it?” I inquired.

“It’s the invite of the year, woman! Chris has added us to the guest list for the weekend getaway of a lifetime. You, me, and all the other guys are going to WA mountains on Chris’ dime to eat, drink, snowboard, ski, hike, and climb for 4 days. We leave this Thursday.” Sam was practically screaming. I could hear him vibrating through the damn phone.

“Who the hell says I can go?” I spat at him as I ripped open the envelope. There is was the official invitation, these damn things were like gold to people. This was a resort that was all inclusive, I’m talking alcohol as well, gear for all excursions. This is the getaway that celebrities when on. Why the hell am I invited.

“Oh please, you are so going. I mean you work for Chris essentially. I bet he would be pissed if you didn’t go.” Sam said.

“Shut up.” I retorted, the lamest come back. My phone beeped, “Sam let me call you back.”

“Ok lovely.”

 

“Hello, this is Emma.”

“Hey Em, its Chris. I wanted to make sure you got your invitation.” Chris said.

“I did. I literally just opened it. Can I ask a kind of weird question?” I ventured. I didn’t want to sound rude or anything. But I’m a nobody, why the hell do you want me to come hang-out with you and all your famous friends.

Chris Stevenson, is one of the most eligible bachelors in Los Angeles. He is a self-made millionaire. To be honest I don’t know what his first big break was, he has like 16 companies he is CEO of. I am simply the head accountant/kind of an assistant/friend. Sam is friends with Chris, and knew he was in need of an experienced accountant. Sam had invited me on a hike/climbing trip with him and his friends. That’s how I met Chris and all of the others. 

“You are a friend Emma. Please say you’ll come. Please. I already told a bunch of the others that I have an awesome new girlfriend coming. And don’t worry I already made it clear that you are a friend that is a girl, not the other way around. Besides I need you to come up there and show off your moves on the slopes. Please?” Chris’ charm was oozing threw the phone.

I had my eyes closed. Okay so it does sound really fun. “Fine. Who all is going?” I replied.

“Everyone. I gotta go. I’ll pick you and Sam up at your place around 8 on Thursday Morning. I’ll have your favorite coffee. Deal?”

“Deal.”


	2. The Resort

Thursday. It was 6 AM and someone was banging on my front door. I was dressed in my pajamas still. I had on “Arkham” pants, and an inside out tank top. My long blonde locks were a tangled mess. I’m sure I had the remains of eyeliner and mascara all over my face. Not to mention my eyes were blurry as hell. The pounding continued

“Who the fuck is it?” I yelled.

“Open the door, Emma.” The invader retorted. It was Sam. I looked in the direction of the clock on the wall in the living room. I blinked a couple times. 6:10 AM. As I unlocked the door, I said roughly, “You know Chris isn’t going to be here until 8, right?” Sam barged in and dropped his bags by the door. “Yeah, but I didn’t wanna drive so I got a cab.” He snapped back as he flopped down on my day bed, grabbing the throw blanket off the back, curling up. I could hear his breathing get deeper and steadier. He was already passed back out.

I retreated back to the comfort of my own bed, burrowing back into the depths. Dreams of Jared Leto’s Joker haunted me. I was jerked awake when I felt a body next to me. Sam. He always like to wake me up. “Emma. Its 7:30.” He said softly. He was like a brother to me. He brushed some of my hair away from my face. “You better beautify yourself, I heard Jared and Shannon are rumored to be coming up there too.” He said, as he pulled my blankets off my body. The cool California air hit me and I grimaced, I wanted to hurt him. I really wasn’t a morning person. Thank God, I took a shower last night. My hair did this lazy wavy thing, if I let it air dry overnight, it was kind of cool. As soon as my brain registered what Sam had said, I was wide awake. ‘Wait, there’s gonna be celebrities already there?” I asked sitting straight up. 

“Yeah. People arrive for this getaway starting last night. The only reason Chris isn’t up there now is because he is driving you and me with him.” Sam said, leaving me on my bed.  
“Hey, you should wear your tank top that has the saying ‘Run like Jared Leto is at the finish line.’ I bet he would get a kick out of that.” I could practically hear his snickering across the apartment. 

“Oh, shut the hell up.” I said back, not caring if he heard me or not. By this point my bed was made, I had changed into jeans and a short sleeve shirt. I had a semi-heavy jacket I was taking. Threw my last toiletries into my bag and came out to the living room just as Chris walked through my door, with coffee and a garment bag.

“Hey, there she is!!” Chris said cheerily. He was definitely a morning person. I reached out, I needed my coffee before I was going to be civil to anyone. One look at the cup and I knew this wasn’t my normal coffee. I arched an eyebrow at Chris. “Just try it.” He commanded.

I stuck my tongue out at him and took a gulp, at least he knew I wasn’t a hot coffee drinker, unless there was snow on the ground. As soon as the coffee hit my tongue I knew where he had gotten it. I almost choked.  
“Chris, is this Black Fuel?” I asked quietly.

‘It sure is. Shannon’s staff hooked me up this morning. I need you to try this jacket on, before we leave.” He said quickly, holding the jacket open. I hadn’t noticed that he had opened the garment back and removed it. It fit me like a glove. But it felt so light, but it was warm, like there was a heater in the actual jacket.

“Oh wow, where the hell did you get this?” I asked. “It’s amazing, I feel like I’m wearing a heating pad.”

“Yeah, do you like it?” Chris asked.

“Do I like it. Uh, maybe not for California weather but mountain weather, hell yeah. I mean, I would take the shirt off that I have on. Just be in a bra cause otherwise it’s too damn hot.” I replied, removing the jacket and holding it out to Chris.

“It’s yours. Sam yours is in the Rover. Heating.” Chris smiled.

“Excuse me?” I said. 

Sam had the biggest smile on his face. 

“Come on. Do we have everything? Let’s load up and go.” Chris said, before I could protest. 

It would have been no use anyway. This was one of the perks of my job, I got free shit. Prototypes most of the time. Shit Chris wanted my opinion on. A lot of the time he needed a female opinion, que my entrance.

5 minutes later, we were all in Chris’ Range Rover speeding away to LAX.

“Alright, you two have rooms next to each other. You won’t need to pay for anything, no tipping either. All the other guys are meeting us there, and we are going to go snowboarding today. 

The resort was massive, and beyond elegant. I had dreams about staying in hotels like this. There were celebrities everywhere. All of them would acknowledge Chris with either a smile, wave, or nod. It was unbelievable. We were shown to our rooms, where I changed into my snowboarding gear, and that jacket. I felt weird that I did have a shirt on, almost like I was walking around topless. Chris had told us to bring our bathing suits and a change of clothes with us.

There was a light knock on my door. Sam. “Ready?” he asked. 

“Yup.” I grabbed my bag and we were off. I think I was more excited to go snowboarding than seeing the numerous celebrity faces milling around. Sam and I made our way through the lobby to one of the unoccupied seating areas. I took a seat, while Sam stood next to me waiting for the rest of the group. I had my wireless headphones around my neck and I could hear Mars blaring. I picked up my phone and started scrolling through my Twitter feed.

“Jesus, what is taking them so long? I wanna go!” Sam whined. I chuckled.

“Who all is going with us?” I asked not taking my eyes off my phone.

“Uh, Chris, Joe, Zack, Josh, Ryder…I think that is it.” Sam said. Sam and Ryder didn’t get along well. Ryder liked to flirt with me and try to set me up with his friends. Which was really annoying. Josh, Zack, and Joe were all rock climbing friends with Chris and Sam. That’s how they all met. When Sam heard that I wanted to try climbing, he brought it up to Chris one day at lunch. I was welcomed into the crew. 

I liked to climb without gear. They all thought I was crazy, which was fine by me. It was freeing. The adrenaline rush of it was exhilarating. Something that I was always looking for. When I was 28, I made a self-discovery. I wasn’t who I wanted to be, so I did some soul searching. I found the person I really was. Mars helped me through it. 

“There they are, finally!” Sam said, bringing me out of my thoughts. 

“Hey, Em!” Joe yelled, as he, Josh, and Zach came running at me. I was engulfed in a hug by the three men. They were all significantly taller than me, but that wasn’t hard to accomplish since I am only 5” 2’. 

“We thought you weren’t coming.” Zach said as they released me. 

“Nah, I’m made her an offer she could refuse.” Chris piped up. “How is the jacket?”

“Toasty.” I replied with a smile.

“Wait, where’s Ryder?” Sam said with a hopeful smile.

“Oh, he’ll be here at cocktails or maybe dinner.” Josh replied.

Sam’s hopeful demeanor vanished. I smiled and nudged him with my shoulder.

“Alright, let’s get our stuff and hit the slopes before cocktails.” Chris said, rubbing his hands together.

We all grabbed gear for snowboarding. And started up to the lift for the mountain. I was a beautiful day, the sun was warm, the breeze was crisp and light, almost non-existent. This resorts lift was benches that held 4 people at a time. Chris, and Sam sandwiched me in a bench. Zach, Joe, and Josh were in the one behind us.

After we reached the top, we saw there was next to no one at the top. As we made our way to the area, the Chris had picked out, he saw three guys in the space he wanted. “Hey guys!” Chris yelled and waved. We all looked up, I couldn’t see over the others, I looked at Sam. 

“Who is he talking to?” I asked. Sam smiled and shook his head.

“Finally made it up the mountain Chris?” one of the men said, slapping Chris on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Here let me introduce you to my friends.” Chris smiled and playfully shoved the other man. 

Pointing at each of the guys, and saying their names. Chris came to me. I was crouched locking one foot onto my snowboard, not really paying attention. Most of the time, when men met me, they thought I was some helpless woman, trailing after Chris.

“And the woman of our group here is Emma. Be careful, she could put most men on their asses.” Chris said, grabbing my arms, and pulling me closer.

“Everybody meet the guys of Thirty seconds to Mars, Shannon, Tomo, and Jared.” Chris said with a smile.

“Holy hell.” Sam whispered. 

The others were too star struck to say anything. I laughed. “Hi, nice to meet you three. Big fan. Not to detract from the moment, but does anyone else hear someone yelling?” I said, stepping forward, drawing the attention of all 8 men. 

We all started to look around. We were huddled in a small circle. Chris was to my left, then Tomo, Jared, Shannon, Zach, Josh, Joe, and Sam ending our circle on my right. 

The yelling continued. It was steadily getting louder. We slowly were starting to be able to understand what was being yelled, “Get out of the way!”

I looked behind me, there was a gentleman on skis, arms flailing, flying towards us. Jared came up behind me. By this point I had realized that there was no time to get out of the ma’s way. 

“Jesus, Jared look out!” I yelled and pushed him into the other men. With just enough time for the flailing man to collide with my side, sending us both tumbling down the mountain.

“Emma!” Chris and Sam yelled. 

After tumbling head over heels I managed to regain my bearings and grab ahold of the man. The decline was leveling off. We finally came to a slow sliding stop. Both of us breathing hard. I was going to be bruised. The man had several cuts, but seemed otherwise alright.

I immediately starting on him, “Are you okay, sir? Is anything broken? Do you know your name?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I don’t think anything is broken. My name is Ben. I can thank you enough, Miss...” Ben said.

“Emma” I replied, holding my hand out to him. 

As I pulled Ben to a standing position, the 8 other members of my party slid to stops around us. Jared was the first to reach us.

“Holy shit. Are you two okay? Anything broken?” Jared questioned as he grabbed my head. “You hit your head pretty hard after impact.” 

I placed my hands on his forearms. “I’m fine, thanks.” 

After, introductions and several staff members arrived with a new snowboard. We said our farewells to Ben and the staff.

“Emma, are you sure you are okay? We all heard you hit your head on the ground after you and Ben collided.” Chris said cautiously. 

“I swear, if one of you asks me one more time if I’m okay. I’m going down this mountain by myself, and getting several stiff drinks. I am fine. I have a hard head. Chris, you should know that.” I said with a laugh.

“She is fine.” Sam said, “If she can make fun of herself, she is perfectly fine. I would know too.” He said wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“Yup.” I replied with a smile. 

After re-arriving at our spot on the mountain, we all positioned ourselves in a line to take off. After 4 hours of boarding, I was starting to get over heated, and to be honest, my head was starting to hurt.

My vision was slightly blurry. “Woah.” I said quietly. Jared, and I were the only ones left at the top of the hill.

“Woah, hey. You doing okay?” he asked, reaching out and steading me.

“Yeah, I think I’m done for the day though.” I said with a small smile. 

“Hey, me too, why don’t we take this one together, and we will tell the others we are gonna head back?” Jared suggested as he took my hand.

“Yeah.” I replied.

When we reached the bottom, Chris was the first to see Jared helping me.

“Emma?” Chris said, walking over. Everyone’s boards were in the back of a cart that was waiting to take us back to the resort.

“I’m fine.” I said, as I crouched down to unsnap the buckles of my boots. I was very aware that Jared’s hands were still on me.

“Holy shit! Emma your neck! Why didn’t you tell us you were bleeding?” Jared yelled. His outburst caught the attention of the others as well as the staff.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I said, wide eyed. I removed my right glove and reached into my coat. The back of my neck was sticky, I slowly brought my hand up into my hair line. That’s when I felt the pain. I winced in pain.

“Let me see.” Jared said, pushing my hands out of the way.

“Looks like a cut from where you hit your head earlier.” Jared said quietly. The other men in our group as well as the staff and closed in around me. 

“The bleeding stopped already. We will just need to check for a concussion when we get back to the hotel” the male staff member replied. 

We all piled into the cart, I was wedged in between Sam and Chris with Jared, Shannon and Tomo in front of me, and Joe, Zach, and Josh behind us.

After we made it back to the resort, I was informed that one of the nurses would met me at my room to help me get cleaned up as well as check for a concussion.

“I’ll escort her to her room.” Sam said, “We are floor buddies.” He finished grabbing my arm

“what floor are you two on?” Jared asked.

“Six.” Sam replied.

“Us too. Let’s go.” Jared said.

It turned out the Jared’s room was directly across the hall from mine, Shannon’s was on his right and Tomo’s was on his left. Small world, I thought.

The nurse was waiting outside my door. “okay, sweetie, let’s take a look at the damage. You boys can wait out here. I’ve got her.”

After close inspection, it was determined that I didn’t have a concussion, but it was close. Just some bumps and bruises, and the cut to the back of my head. Which bled like a beast.

After getting dressed, as the nurse was heading out, she asked, “Would you like me to let the gentlemen in? They are all waiting.”

“Please.” I replied. I was in my ‘Arkham’ sweats, and a plain black t-shirt. My hair was still slightly damp. 

All eight men came barreling into the room. I wasn’t feeling up to cocktails, neither was any of them. We all decided room service and a movie. 

I had a California king sized bed, two couches, and an arm chair. After room service was ordered, we decided we would watch a movie after dinner.


End file.
